Affiliate Marketing Book Becomes E-commerce Bestseller on Amazon

Things like this just don’t happen every day…

Late on the evening of August 15 I published “Quick Start Guide to Affiliate Marketing” — my newest book, aimed at aspiring affiliates, and everyone interested in learning how to make money through affiliate programs.

On August 17 it became the #1 “hot new release” in Amazon’s E-commerce book section [screenshot here].

And on August 19 the book turned into the absolute bestseller on E-Commerce and Web Marketing (in under 4 days!)

Then a number of business and marketing heavyweights picked up the news spreading the word about it and Tweeting:

The sales are still going strong, reviews rolling in, and if you haven’t yet picked up your copy, I am now selling the (originally $4.99) book only at $1.99. Order your copy here.

Top 100 Executives Magazine Email from Benjamin Morrison is Scam

It’s that time of the year when numerous executives in English-speaking parts of the world are receiving emails from a “prestigious magazine,” congratulating them on making the list of candidates for publication in it. I got one too:

Three problems on the very surface of it:

1. It came from info@sunetworks.com and sunetworks.com domain resolves to a one-page website which at the time of this post has one word: “Hello.” Also, the domain information is protected (read: all real contact info hidden) by Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.

2. When I search for “Top 100 Executives Magazine” I find another one-pager – top100executivemagazine.com – which hosts a form to harvest personal information.

3. CAPS and UNDERLINED CAPS isn’t normally a part of a serious “professional magazine” orthography.

Furthermore, if you dig a little deeper you will realize that this is a classic spear phishing scam which “lures professionals into parting with personal information, such as phone numbers, email addresses and job titles, by appealing to the executives’ vanity.” [source]

If you get an email like this, take a deep breath and breathe out. Relax. You haven’t been shortlisted for anything. Just steer clear of Benjamin Morrison’s email.